Contents

Appearance

The Wither looks like an 'emaciated' creature, and it is a black, skeletal beast with 3 wither skulls as heads along with a body that consists of a skeletal spine and prehensile rib-cages. It also has white eyes and white mouths.

Behavior

The Wither is an extremely aggressive monster that is hostile to a player and all mobs except undead mobs, such as Skeletons, Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, Wither Skeletons, Husks, Strays, and other Withers. Upon noticing non-undead mobs, the Wither will attack them with a projectile called the “wither skull”. Each head fires independently allowing a wither to attack up to three different mobs/players at the same time. If no mobs are around, the Wither will fire randomly.

When provoked by a skeleton or another Wither, they will only remain hostile toward each other for a moment before returning to friendly status. If it is spawned in The End, it will prefer to attack any nearby Endermen, but it will also attempt to pursue and attack the Ender Dragon if there are no other nearby targets.

Abilities

The Wither can move very quickly. Upon noticing a mob, the Wither will attack them with a projectile called the “Wither Skull”. Wither Skulls inflict a status effect called "Wither II" on Normal and Hard difficulties for about 10 to 40 seconds, respectively. This effect is similar to Poison except that it can kill a player, and it turns the health bar black which makes it difficult to tell at a glance how many hearts are still full. The wither is able to break any block except Bedrock and End Portal Frames. It can also destroy Obsidian which is well known for it's immunity to TNT and long mining time.

Each head is fired individually, allowing a Wither to attack up to three different mobs at the same time or fire very quickly on a single mob. The middle-head Wither shoots a blue Wither skull which will give a player the Wither effect while its other heads shoot their own skulls. Withers need at least a 5 block high airspace to fit, regardless, they can't be trapped and suffocated in smaller rooms. When attacked, the Wither will break any block that comes into contact with it except bedrock and end portal frames.

The Wither has the ability to destroy blocks similar to that of the Ender Dragon's ability. When near any block that can be destroyed by a player, it will produce an audible smashing sound. For example, this could happen by having the Wither on one side of a wall and a player on the other, so the Wither would have to make a path through the wall in order to attack. The Wither will then instantly destroy a 3x3 hole in the wall in order to pass through it.

The Wither's boss health bar is only shown when a player is looking in the direction of a Wither, and it can also be seen through walls when a player is looking in the Wither's direction. When it reaches half health, the Wither will gain the "Wither Armor" effect which makes it immune to Arrows and Potions but not melee attacks as well as having a visual effect surrounding it similar to that of a Charged Creeper. While in this state, the Wither cannot fly. The Wither, when calm, cannot fly, and instead it simply hovers above the ground, but it cannot "jump" up one block. When angered by a player, the Wither will fly at the same height as a player. Like other undead mobs, such as zombies, skeletons, etc., the Wither is harmed by Potions of Healing and healed by Potions of Harming. It also regenerates health over time (about a per second).
The Wither will explode when it is done powering up, so a player should steer clear of it when it's spawned.

Summoning the Wither

To create the Wither, a player must arrange four Soul Sand blocks in a capital "T" shape, and place three wither skeleton skulls on top. The Wither will appear instantly, staying still, while beginning charging its health and cannot be damaged in this time. Once fully charged, a large explosion happens around it, and it begins attacking anything in sight aside from other Undead monsters (Zombies, Skeletons, etc.).

The Wither can destroy any block except Bedrock, and therefore cannot be contained. Once a player has worn it down to half health, it forms "Wither Armor" that protects it from arrows. A player must then finish it off at close range. When killed, it drops the Nether Star, an ingredient to the Beacon, a powerful block that gives a player enhanced powers.

Note: The wither is not created in a crafting table. Instead, the components of the wither must be placed/stacked in a particular shape (similar to an Iron Golem), following the shape outlined in the table below.

*The last block placed MUST be a Wither Skeleton head, or this will not work.